VILLAGE AT PALISADES TAHOE PROJECT

The Next Step

The last time we checked in about the proposed Village at Palisades Tahoe (Project), the Placer County Planning Commission had just met. While we were disappointed by their vote to recommend approval of the project, we are far from discouraged. Tahoe is too important, too special to let up. So, we’re keeping at it to ensure Tahoe gets the protections it deserves. 

The next and last step for the Project is a decision by the Placer County Board of Supervisors. The date of that meeting has not been announced, but we expect it will happen in the next six weeks. We encourage you to show up in person, or submit a comment ahead of time, to voice your feelings about the Project and what it means for Tahoe. 

As we all know, the Project would be built directly adjacent to the Basin and will undoubtedly impact Tahoe’s environment – its water, air, and efforts to improve regional transportation. 

The League to Save Lake Tahoe’s position on the Project has remained consistent for over a decade. It’s tied directly to the large number of added daily vehicle trips and related vehicle miles travelled (VMT) that will be added to the Basin. More cars mean more air pollution, more erosion and runoff, and more microplastics from tires, all of which harm the Lake’s water quality. 

In recent months, the company behind the Project, Alterra, promised payments to Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transportation (TART) and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) for transportation. But the payments wouldn’t do enough to alleviate current congestion problems, let alone offset decades of increased traffic that will be created by the Project. 

Hwy 89 and Rte 28 in Tahoe City. 3,300 new car trips would come to Tahoe on the busiest summer days, most likely on these roads. Google Earth.

Based on its own environmental impact analyses, the Project would add 3,300 new daily car trips into the Basin on the already busiest summer days (Revised Final EIR, 3.1-86). For comparison, the Caltrans maintenance station at the junction of Highway 89 and Route 28 in Tahoe City sees an average of 16,300 average daily car trips pass by during the busiest travel month of the year (Caltrans 2022). 

Palisades would add 20% more traffic to an already congested, stress-inducing road – a road that people drive to work every day, navigate to drop their kids at practice, and that first responders use to rush patients to the hospital. 

Tahoe shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden of new traffic from this Project.  

As the Board of Supervisors meeting approaches, we’ll be back in touch with more updates and opportunities for you to get involved. Thank you, and together we will Keep Tahoe Blue. 

League to Save Lake Tahoe | 530.541.5388 | keeptahoeblue.org